Twin Daggers
by StoriUrahara
Summary: Demetri is a young Imperial man just entering his twenty-third year. A life of murder and death has made him a sadistic killer; unmoved by death and untouched by fear. A freelance assassin with no aim in life, Demetri is offered a place in the Dark Brotherhood. OC/Antoinetta Marie. T for cursing, blood, and some smut. Two-shot.


**Disclaimer; I make no effort to claim that I own The Elder Scrolls Four; Oblivion. The rights and ownership belong solely to Bethesda; I am simply one of their many players :) Demetri, however, belongs to me.**

**-x-**

The little boy whimpered as he watched the man in black wipe his father's blood off on his mother's corpse, staining her white dress crimson. The man had knocked a little while earlier, and the boy's mother had answered, despite the late hour. As soon as the door was shut behind him, the hooded man had whipped out a dagger and slit his mother's throat, sending her lifeblood spraying out of her neck in an arc of red. With a strangled scream, his father had run at the man with a bread knife, but the man in black had simply dodged and sunk his blade between the crazed man's ribs, killing him instantly.

Now, the man was staring at the young boy, his green eyes narrowed to slits and gleaming with malice. The light casted by the fire illuminated the man's face, and the boy gulped as he stared at the murderer before him.

He had nearly white hair, despite his young features, and his dark eyes were set above his low cheekbones and thin mouth. His black attire seemed to absorb any light that touched it and his silver dagger was still red with the blood of his recent victims.

A bright smile spread across the hooded figure's face, and a red tongue flicked out to lick the edge of the bloody dagger. A strangled cry of terror ripped through the boy's throat as he watched the man approach him, before his screams stopped forever.

-x-

Demetri shot upright, his bedsheets clinging to his clammy skin and his breathing heavy. He had the same nightmare nearly every night , but never had he seen himself from another's perspective. As the dream faded away as it always did, his heart slowed and his breathing became slower. His senses returning, he felt a dark presence in the room and tensed.

"How long have you been standing there?" He asked into the dark. "Not many can sneak up on me, and even fewer can remain undetected as long as you have." The shadow chuckled before it stepped into the flickering candlelight, revealing it to be a man cloaked in a black robe, his pale, gaunt face peering out of the drooping hood.

"I am Lucien Lachance, a Speaker for the Dark Brotherhood. And you..." The man cocked his head. "You are a killer. A taker of life. A harvester of souls. You are a cold-blooded killer, capable of taking life without mercy or remorse. Your work, your deathcraft, pleases the Night Mother. And so, I come to you with an offering. An opportunity to join our, rather unique family."

"The Dark Brotherhood," Demetri smiled matter-of-factly. "I've been waiting for one of you to show up for some time now."

"So, I have your rapt attention. Splendid." Lucien's voice betrayed amusement. "Now listen closely. On the Green Road to the north of Bravil lies the Inn of Ill Omen. There you will find a man named Rufio. Kill him, and your initiation into the Dark Brotherhood will be complete. Do this, and the next time you sleep in a location I deem secure, I will reveal myself once more, bearing the love of your new family."

"Rufio will die by my hand," Demetri bowed his head, a smug grin on his face.

"Excellent! Now please, accept this token from the Dark Brotherhood. It is a virgin blade, and thirsts for blood. May it serve your endeavors well." Lachance drew an ebony dagger from his drooping sleeves and passed it to Demetri, gingerly holding it by the cross-guard. Demetri took it and tested the weight of it in his hands, satisfied with the balance. Looking up to thank the Speaker, he saw nothing where Lucien Lachance had stood only moments before. Chuckling to himself, Demetri tossed off the bed sheets and hopped off the bed, bending to retrieve his backpack before leaving the one-room house, laughing to himself as he tossed a coin on the blood-stained corpse of a farmer.

"Thanks for the bed, folks," he waved at the dead eyes of the farmer's wife. "Blessings of the Nine to you and your kin." With a final laugh at his own antics, Demetri sent three fireballs bursting from his palm, igniting the wood and straw of the small home as he walked away.

-x-

Demetri lounged on the old tattered sheets of Rufio's bed, lazily nibbling on an apple core. Thankfully, most of the blood that had spilled from the old man's neck had been soaked up by his own tunic, and the sheets were only a little bit blood-stained.

"Easier than I thought you'd be, old man," Demetri smirked, flipping the core off the end of the bed and in to the dead man's lap. "Figured I might have to drag you down here and strangle the life out of you, but you were fast asleep when I got here. I guess you'll never nap during the day ever again, eh, old man?" Demetri laughed again, settling in to the tattered mattress.

"Now I just wait for Lachance," he sighed contently. Shifting one last time, he closed his eyes and waited for sleep to take him.

-x-

He was in the nightmare again, the memory playing out like it always did. He walked in, killed the wife, killed the husband, and then stabbed the son in the throat. But when Demetri didn't wake, he wondered what was different. This time, he knelt beside the bed, where he found a girl trembling and crying, trying to stifle her sobbing with the hem of her apron.

Demetri grinned as he pulled her out from under the bed by her hair, her cries of pain and fear only heightening his bloodlust. Suddenly, the girl wrenched herself free, kicking Demetri in the groin before she dashed out of his sight. Gritting his teeth, Demetri roared and whirled, his eyes falling on the girl as she desperately tugged at the door latch. He laughed at her, throwing his head back at the sight of a helpless little girl banging her tiny fists against the door, sobbing uncontrollably and wailing for her dead parents.

Gripping the hilt of his dagger, Demetri strode over to where the little girl was slumped against the door, her head pressed between her legs. As his shadow fell over her, she whimpered pitifully and hugged herself tighter.

-x-

Demetri woke suddenly, his eyes snapping open and darting around the dark room.

"Fitful sleep," Lachance remarked from the shadows, unveiling his chameleon spell.

"Only because I was surprised," Demetri replied, fully awake as he sat up. "It seems your presence gives my dreams strange twists." Lachance chuckled.

"I tend to have that effect on people," he drawled. "Now heed these words. The slaying of Rufio was the signing of a covenant. The manner of execution; your signature. Rufio's blood; the ink. As a Speaker of the Black Hand, I directly oversee a particular group of family members. You will join that group, and fulfill any contracts given." Demetri nodded, but Lachance only acknowledged his movement by continuing.

"You must now go to the city of Cheydinhal, to the abandoned house near the eastern wall. Enter the basement, and attempt to open the black door. You will be asked a question. Answer thusly; 'Sanguine, my Brother.' You will gain entrance to the Sanctuary. Once inside, speak with Ocheeva." Demetri simply nodded again, mentally drawing a map of Cheydinhal to pinpoint the abandoned house. After a moment of racing through the buildings, he found one with a crumbling stone fence and boarded up windows, with similar boards thrown over the door.

"We must now take our leave of each other, you and I, for there is much work to be done. I'll be following your progress. Welcome to the family." With that, Lucien Lachance dissipated into the shadows, and Demetri was left to the dark.

"Well, that sounds simple enough," Demetri remarked to the ceiling. "Just like that, I'm in. Figured there might be a ritual or a ceremony, but I guess not." Swinging his legs over the side of the bed, Demetri hopped off and slung his backpack over his shoulder.

As he left the inn, he told the proprietor that Rufio would no longer be needing his room.

-x-

Demetri stepped easily over the crumbling stone fence in front of the abandoned house, stopping in front of the door and studying it. It was boarded up tight, and as Demetri wanted to be as inconspicuous as possible, he wanted to avoid tearing the planks right off the door.

A closer look and the heightened senses of his fingertip showed hairline incisions in the wood, lining up perfectly with where the edges of the door were. The only question was if the cuts went all the way through, but Demetri's puzzlements were assuaged by a quick slide of his finger down the back one of the slits. They were even angled diagonally so that one could open the door and close it without the wood jamming or not lining up the way it should.

A quick test of the latch revealed that the door was locked, but that was easily overcome by a lockpick and Demetri's deft fingers. Gently pushing the door open, Demetri slid in and pressed it shut, not waiting for the click to scan the room.

There were scattered bits of furniture strewn about the room; everything was in literal pieces. Chunks of wardrobe laid atop a rotting table that had long been broken in two and a chest with a smashed lid and crushed sides squatted beside a barrel tipped on its side, both riddled with cobwebs. Demetri stepped over a pile of molding food and ducked under a sagging floorboard from the floor above him on his way to the other side of the entryway, where another door sat in the darkness.

Noting the rusted hinges and latch, Demetri threw his weight against it, feeling the rotted wood give way and leaping back just as the door caved in, slouching to the floor in a mess of rusted metal and splintered wood. Hopping lightly over the mess, Demetri trotted down the crumbling stone steps, coming in to a large cellar. Peering into the darkness, he made out a section where many bricks had been tugged free, and the area behind was a small tunnel entrance.

Ripping out a few more bricks to make more room for himself, Demetri slipped through the hole and crept into the tunnel. The walls slowly began to take on an eerie red glow as the path sloped down, and Demetri froze as a door came into view.

It was darker than a night in the deep forest, and it shimmered like it was made of obsidian. A huge white skull emblazoned on the door loomed down at him, and a handprint in the center of its forehead had a circle carved around it, shining across the stone like a sun would. A woman held a dagger in one hand and a child in another, and the blade was pointed at four other children who seemed to be afraid.

"The Night Mother and the Children of Sithis," Demetri whispered to himself. Suddenly, he was paralyzed with an eerie feeling of foreboding. Then, almost immediately after, a disembodied voice hissed inside his head.

"What... is the color... of night?" The speech was broken in irregular patterns, and after a moment of silence, Demetri's chest tightened, as if some malevolent spirit was trying to squeeze an answer out of him.

"Sanguine, my Brother," he managed, trying his best to keep his voice steady. His ribs felt like they were being crushed between two monstrous stones. The sensation released him, and the door unlocked. Opening it with his fingertips, he revealed a large room with a short ceiling with four support columns holding it up. An Argonian woman was waiting in the center of the room, and as he approached her she strode out to greet him.

"Greetings! Greetings! I am Ocheeva, mistress of this Sanctuary." Dipping into a polite bow, Ocheeva continued. "Lucien has told me all about you. Let me welcome you to the Dark Brotherhood!" Demetri nodded and glanced about the room, not seeing the robed man anywhere.

"I was under the impression Lachance would be here himself," Demetri said, somewhat offended. "Does he not think it important to greet a new member?"

"Dear Brother, please do not take any offense," Ocheeva replied gently. "Lucien isn't here very often. His duties with the Black Hand keep him very busy, so he trusts me to keep the Sanctuary in order." Demetri nodded again, accepting Ocheeva's explanation.

"So, what now?" He asked after a few moments passed.

"Now?" A toothy grin spread across Ocheeva's scaled features, showing every gleaming, pointed tooth in her mouth. "Now, my dear, sweet Brother, you begin."

**-x-**

**The next chapter should be up pretty soon; I have it mapped out, so I just have to flesh it out :)**

**I hope you all enjoyed!**


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